Toad-in-the-hole

Main course: serves 4. Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

The secret of a good toad-in-the-hole lies in heating up the cooking dish with plenty of fat, before the batter goes in.This ensures it almost fries at the edges and around the sides and comes out beautifully crisp and rich, with that particular savour that is the hallmark of British cooking. You can prepare the batter and fry the sausages ahead of time if necessary.

Batter

Sausages

Whizz all the ingredients for the batter together in a blender until the mixture is smooth, then leave it to rest for 30 minutes. Halfway through resting the batter, heat the oven to 200C fan oven/220C or 425F electric oven/Gas 7.

Heat a little dripping, lard or vegetable oil in a frying pan and slowly colour the sausages on all sides. Try to do this as evenly as possible, turning them frequently. By the end, they should be a nice golden colour, but not too dark, as they will colour further in the oven. Place a couple of tablespoons of whatever fat you are using in a 35cm oval gratin dish or one equivalent in size, and heat this in the oven for 10 minutes.

Pour the batter into the hot dish and lay the sausages on top. Place the toad-in-the-hole in the oven and cook for 30 minutes until the batter is risen and golden. Serve straight away.